Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Dave Beasing, programmer of
The Sound (100.3 FM), took some time last Friday to speak at San Pedro High
School’s Career Day. Speaking to two different classes for about 30 minutes
each, Beasing told of radio’s challenges and how programming, promotion and
marketing all work together.

“When I first started in
radio, social media didn’t even exist,” he told the classes. Now it’s one of our
marketing tools.” He showed video clips of material from Mark in the Morning as
a demonstration of how to attract an audience, and told of how some bits that at
first seem to fall flat can be saved through creativity.

“Media is changing,”
Beasing explained. “All of the traditional so-called legacy media now involve
very high-tech modern skills. You might ask yourself ‘what does this video have
to do with radio?’ A lot ... if you do it right.

“Someone going into radio
today should be great at shooting and editing video, web design, social media,
all of this. Because as a radio station we need to be part of our listeners
lives 24-7. If somebody is your friend, they are always with you -- not just
when they want something from you. So we need to be part of their lives even
when they're not listening ... when they're on Facebook, when they're on
Instagram, when they're on Twitter, we want to be there.”

Changes at KABC

Last week’s mention of Art
Bell’s return to local radio via KABC (790 AM) neglected to mention the other
changes at the heritage talker.

Leo Terrell had been
holding down the KABC morning courtroom since Judge Christina Perez left the
station in May. Now Terrell’s version of the program is gone as well, a victim
of the station’s ongoing ratings problems. Terrell remains with KABC in a
fill-in capacity.

In its place is the Peter
Tilden Show every weekday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon; Tilden had been
heard previously on the station at night.

But wait - Tilden is still
on at night, albeit earlier than his former 9 to midnight slot. Supposedly live
at 6 p.m. as well as his morning duties, Tilden must have the longest working
day in talk radio. Maybe that’s why his shifts sound like a taped podcast, made
using bad equipment (can someone buy him a real microphone so it doesn’t sound
like he’s talking through a wall?) ...

At 7 p.m. is the Best of
KABC, whatever that means, followed at 8:00 by two hours of Jonathon
Brandmeier’s syndicated program, Art Bell comes on at 10:00, as mentioned last
week.

Death Watch

On December 31, 1999,
Cumulus Media stock was at an all-time high of $50.75. November 6th at the
closing bell, it was worth 29 cents. That’s a loss in value of more than 99
percent ... how much longer can the company survive, especially if the stock
ends up delisted on the NASDAQ exchange as it has been warned may happen by May,
2016?

A Lot Like Christmas

SiriusXM has beaten KOST
(103.5 FM) to the punch, with the launch of two all-holiday music channels
November 2 and more to come as the season gets closer. Get details at blog.siriusxm.com.

I’m betting KOST will jump
in, perhaps as soon as Monday.

Healy Recordings

Reader Richard Campos asks,
“Any idea how we can hear the old Jim Healy sports broadcasts?” As a matter of
fact: yes. YouTube has quite a few, posted by fans of the legendary broadcaster
who retired from KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM) in late April, 1999. Amazing what you
can find there. If you’ve never heard Healy or you want to hear him again, do a
search on YouTube.

Funding Reel Radio

Richard Irwin’s top-40
radio museum known as Reel Radio (reelradio.com) is the reason I wanted a fast
modem back in the days of dial-up internet. I love listening to the old
recordings of classic radio.

In an effort to pay down
some bills from licensing fees, streaming costs and more, the nonprofit
organization has set up a Go Fund Me page at GoFundMe.Com/Reelradio, where fans can
donate to help pay down debt and help keep the site alive.

Or just go to the main site
for ReelRadio and donate there ... and listen to how radio used to sound.